Celebrate the new year with a new slice of Pi, the Pi 500. A Pi 400 style Pi 5 computer built into a Pi keyboard. I am planning a demo party in February to compare the Pi 500 with the Pi 5 and a Pi 4 fitted with the Pi keyboard and Pi mouse.
The location will be the Central Coast just north of Sydney Australia. Previous Pi Parties enjoyed good weather at an outdoor seating area next to a cafe in Erina. Suggestions welcome for other locations.
Who could use a Pi 500?
Anyone running a classroom or office or working from home when there are dogs or kids around, knows how easier life is when there are less cables to plug in, fewer items on the desktop, and less to pack up at the end of the day. The Pi 500 is an obvious option.
People running intense database applications will prefer the Pi 5 + NVMe SSD. Typically that would be a central database behind a Web server. You might have one in the classroom or office and the twenty students plus teacher would use the Pi 500.
When?
The Pi 500 has more processing power than the Pi 400, helping you use bigger applications. If I was teaching people to use LibreOffice or to develop software using Eclipse, I would do it on a Pi 500 but not on a Pi 400.
I plan on showing people the Pi 500 as soon as I get one. Meanwhile I have the Pi 5 8 GB plus official keyboard to let everyone to test drive the same setup. The next Pi party will be middle to late February.
Where?
Anywhere you need a Pi 5 based notebook computer, on the road, visiting a customer, you are one step closer with a Pi 500.
Keyboard, mouse, screen, HDMI cable, and power supply. No Pi 5. No Pi 5 cooler. No Pi 5 case. No USB cable for keyboard to Pi 5.
A Pi party could be at Erina, Ettalong Beach, Tuggerah, Umina Beach, Woy Woy, Wyong, or almost any of the beach side cafes as I have a portable screen. Lots of options. Just need one power point.
Why?
Less cost. Less mess. Less setup. Less parts lost.
The main "Why not?" appears to be those cases where you need NVMe storage speed for databases or a special keyboard. I have only one project where NVMe is needed, where USB 3 SSD is too slow. I do like other keyboards for some heavy duty typing sessions and you can plug one into a Pi 500.
I can demonstrate the speed and the keyboard. You can test drive Firefox, LibreOffice, and a stack of other applications.
Way?
The Pi 500 has one memory size, 8 GB, which works for me with masses of storage up to 2 TB. A 4 TB disk full of files can use a 12 TB file cache during a full disk search, something I rarely do. 8 GB works for everything else.
If you have NVMe ready for use with a new computer, you can put it in a USB 3.1 enclosure for use through the Pi 500 USB 3 ports. (The USB 3 standard is slack and replaced with the vastly improved USB 3.1 standard so I always buy USB 3.1 as the minimum for cables and enclosures.)
Choose the fastest microSD card for the Pi 500, or the Pi 5, as the Pi 5/500 can access the microSD card twice as fast as the Pi 4.
Look for a longer official HDMI cable. With a Pi 4 or 5, you have a long cable from the keyboard to computer then a short HDMI cable to the screen. The Pi 500 and 400 have onely one cable direct from the keyboard to the screen so you need extra length for flexibility of placement plus routing around other things on your desk.
I can currently show you a bunch of options including a Pi 5 + NVMe.
Worth?
In our local shops, the Pi 500 is 35% cheaper than buying the separate official keyboard, Pi 5, Pi 5 cooler, and Pi 5 case. One thing to worry about instead of four.
For people on the move, a carrying case for a Pi 500, with or without a screen, can be slightly smaller. When your time is valuable, there is less setting up and tearing down, another feature worth buying.
I perform software development with some projects using a database so already have a Pi 5 + NVMe for the database based applications. The Pi 500 is the better option when I travel somewhere and show people a Pi for Web browsing, email, general use.
The microSD card speed and the official keyboard feel are the main deciders, something I will let you test.
What?
You get a Pi 5 in a Raspberry Pi keyboard. There are extra sockets along the back for a microSD card, HDMI, USB 3, Power, and GPIO pins. Good for most uses.
For connection to a breadboard, I would use a 40 pin cable to a breadboard designed for that type of connection and marked with the GPIO pin layout. In fact, I would start with my old Pi 4 mounted on a board with breadboard as it is easier to see the pins.
For showing people heaps of examples, perhaps photos or videos, I would use a big capacity microSD from one of the fastest options, like a Sandisk Extreme microSD card. The read speeds are impressive and you can fit all your material on one card. If you have to demonstrate editing videos, use a small file or USB SSD.
Make sure all your software is updated frequently as there are firmware adjustments still happening for the Pi 5.
Frequent typers should test drive an official Raspberry Pi keyboard before buying. They keyboard is similar to a good notebook keyboard but not quite as good as the excellent keyboard on my current notebook. I also use an 85%, or TKL, keyboard with a better movement for serious bouts of typing. 90% of keyboard users will find the Pi keyboard a step up from their current board.
The previous Pi parties featured a good cafe for coffee and an outdoor seating area for casual discussion in good weather. Somewhere with a power point for demo and test drives. 10 am to 12. Cafes usually require the purchase of more than a coffee when you hang around during their busy lunch time.
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